NYSDEC Giant Hogweed Control Program

The NYSDEC Giant Hogweed Control Program will control the giant hogweed (GH) plants on your property free of charge. From late April through August, the program hires eight field crews across the state employing 12 field technicians. NYSDEC crews use the appropriate giant hogweed control method at each site. In general, herbicide control is used at larger sites with greater than 400 plants, root-cutting control is used at smaller sites with less than 400 plants, and flower/seed head removal is used at all sites to limit seed dispersal.

How do you report a site for control?

Call the giant hogweed hotline at (845) 256-3111 or email DEC and give detailed directions to the plant infestation (GPS coordinates and street address a plus), an estimated number of plants, and provide photos. Please make sure to not touch the plants when you take the photos. The best photos to take are:

One picture of the whole plant - so we can see how tall it is

Pictures of the basal (bottom) leaves

Close-up of the stem where the leaf stalk connects

Flower head (include one from the bottom/side so the number of flower rays/stalks can be roughly counted) - if only dead seed head from last year is available, that is okay, too

What happens when giant hogweed is confirmed?

If giant hogweed is confirmed through the photos, the landowner will be sent a packet that contains a letter of notification, a document on control methods, and a permission form to be signed and returned to the NYSDEC. The form will give field crews consent to enter the landowner's property and control the giant hogweed plants. That site will be controlled some time between April and September and will be on a list to be revisited in following years until the plants are eradicated. When no more plants are found, the site will be monitored for three subsequent years.

Funding

The NYSDEC Giant Hogweed Control Program has received funding from a federal American Resource and Recovery Act grant, USDA-APHIS, USDA-Forest Service and New York State.

Accomplishments

NYSDEC Giant Hogweed Control Program Accomplishments 2006-2015.

2006-2015

2006 & 2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

# of hotline calls

NYSDAM,
sites visited by DEC

200

660

912

1,976

967

592

1,019

1,099

# of hotline
e-mails

N/A

N/A

N/A

237

861

1,045

801

1,472

1,315

# of website
visits

N/A

6,373

10,770

25,066

307,444

65,044

345,665

642,798

535,516

# of sites root-cut controlled

N/A

130

195

402

538

494

593

556

761

# of plants root-cut controlled

N/A

10,558

13,354

39,411

73,793

38,781

43,023

22,255

34,422

# of sites herbicide
controlled

N/A

N/A

146

210

270

347

486

551

444

# of plants herbicide controlled*

N/A

N/A

871,000

1,177,000

1,482,000

375,000

637,000

397,000

454,000

# of sites monitored** (no plants found)

N/A

64

106

139

204

282

251

354

448

# of new sites

60

122

158

341

234

179

183

226

188

# of sites
with plants

346

433

539

805

959

1,010

1,188

1,259

1,309

# of sites with
no plants (includes eradicated sites)*

N/A

64

106

139

207

339

348

501

639

# of eradicated sites

N/A

N/A

N/A

28

55

97

149

239

277

# of DEC control
staff hired

N/A

6

7

13

15

11.5

13

13

14

Funding
source

State & Federal

State & Federal

State & Federal

ARRA & Federal

ARRA

State

State & Federal

State & Federal

State & Federal

* Monitored sites have had prior control but no GH regrowth/plants were found during the latest yearly field season's monitoring visit. After three consecutive yearly visits with no plants found, a site is deemed eradicated.

** Starting in 2012 we used a different but more consistent method of calculating the number of plants controlled by herbicide to allow for better comparison to future plant counts. 2012 and later calculations are based on the amount of herbicide used; prior year plant counts were calculated using crew plant density estimates.